Jump Like a Grasshopper, Roll Like a Ball

Rhodri Armour, a PhD
student at the University of Bath, has
created a robot that can roll across smooth terrain like a ball and
jump over obstacles like a grasshopper. The robot, called Jollbot, is a
design exercise intended to solve the sorts of problems that would face
a land survey robot or planetary exploration robot. The spherical robot
is very lightweight and inexpensive. Small motors are used to build up
energy in the springy, spherical exoskeleton by compressing it. When
it's ready to jump, the skeleton springs back to its normal spherical
shape, propelling the robot into the air. The same spring exoskeleton
absorbs the impact energy when it returns to the ground. Props to Jan
for sending us the link!